N.H. bucks slump in holiday sales: Local shoppers take advantage of post-Christmas deals

Thursday

Dec 27, 2012 at 3:15 AMDec 27, 2012 at 5:42 AM

By Michelle Kingstonmkingston@fosters.com

DOVER — Analysts say the fiscal cliff, Superstorm Sandy and the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., may have caused cautious spending this holiday season, but folks in New Hampshire claim sales were actually steady.

Over the past two months, shopping was weakest in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, both parts of the nation hit by Sandy. This part of the country accounts for 24 percent of U.S. retail sales. The mid-Atlantic sales declined by 3.9 percent and the Northeast sales declined by 1.4 percent compared with last year.

Connecticut, also part of the Northeast, was home to the death of 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and is said to possibly have been part of the lack of enthusiasm for shopping this month, according to analysts. The worry of what is to come with tax increases and government spending also kept some people from pulling out their wallets.

While experts claim that sales were down nationally, the Union Leader reported overall sales being up from last year by 3 to 5 percent.

The UL reported that Nancy Kyle, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Retail Merchants association, said New Hampshire may be doing better than the national sales average because of the state's lack of sales tax and cross-border shopping. They reported New Hampshire to have an annual retail sales per capita average of $19,000, which is $6,000 more than the national average.

“It has definitely been busy. There is no doubt about that,” Newington Best Buy manager Mike Sargent said, adding that tablets, E-readers, iPods and cell phones were among the most popular gifts purchased at the store, but claiming gift cards to be safe bets for many customers.

A store manager at Macy's at the Fox Run Mall said this season has been busy, with Black Friday being a very strong sales day as well as the week leading up to Christmas.

“Overall, feedback on this year has been pretty good,” Aaron Yust, director of Marketing and Business Development of Fox Run Mall said. “We do keep in touch with our tenants throughout the season on a weekly basis and get feedback from them and overall the feedback has been pretty solid so far. We had a great Black Friday weekend and I think those trends carried on to Christmas.”

Other stores in the region did not have the same results. Although numbers and statistics are not yet available, Cool Jewels in Portsmouth co-owner Barb Bradford said she believes the season did not go well.

Wal-Mart, The Loft, Second Time Around, Lowe's and Kohl's were a few of the stores unable to provide comment on shopping activity during the holiday season. According to a message to reporters via Walmart's media relations line, they only release data on a quarterly basis and no data specific to the holiday shopping period will be released.

Whether the data be positive or negative, the month of December is not over yet, and according to Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, retailers still have time to make up lost ground. Nearly 15 percent of the month's sales come from the final week of December.

The day after Christmas is known as the day for returns, with lines out the door, but all was relatively quiet on Wednesday afternoon on the Seacoast.

“It's typically a busy day, as Christmas and hangovers wear off,” Sargent said. “However, years ago, we expanded our return policy and it is not like it used to be five or six years ago, when you had lines at 8 o'clock in the morning. We have a good two weeks of returns now.”

Kohl's in Rochester had about a dozen people in line around noon on Wednesday making returns, being what might have been the longest line seen in the area. Lines at Kittery Trading Post in Maine and at downtown Portsmouth retailers, mall stores and local shops in the Garrison City were nothing more than what is seen on average days.

“I thought it would have been busier because of the storm tomorrow,” Bea Brochu, owner of Bea's Jewelers at the Lilac Mall in Rochester, said. “Maybe everybody's happy with what they got.”

Yust is interested to see if the storm impacts the returns and end-of-the-year clearance shopping.

“Maybe the forecast for the next couple days pushes people out a little early, where people who would not have maybe come out today are thinking, 'Well, I'm not going out tomorrow or Friday,' and do go out today,” he said.

This was not the case in Dover, though, where few returns were made following the busy shopping season.

In the downtown core, many merchants were closed Wednesday, including The Noggin Factory, Just The Thing and Jewelry Creations, but the few stores open saw shoppers taking advantage of the after-Christmas sales rather than storming the registers for unwanted items.

At Nicole's Hallmark on Central Ave, signs alerted shoppers to sales of up to 50 percent off Christmas items such as ornaments, wrapping paper and various decorations for the home.

Co-owner Janet Perry said she believed there was only one return for the whole day and it was due to a person receiving an item they already had.

“We've been very lucky,” Perry said regarding the number of items staff saw come back to the store on Wednesday.

She said for the most part people were good about making a decision in the first place when they set out shopping, knowing which kind of items they were seeking, or learning early on in the season that something needed to be traded out. As a result, any returns at the store were spread out pretty evenly over the season.

Yust said the rest of December at the Fox Run Mall will also see similar clearances and sales.

“There are a lot of stores with promotions tied in to get people out to the stores, certainly now when they are all on vacation still,” he said. “Tenants go heavy on discounts the week after Christmas in an effort to get folks in there with gift cards.”

December overall seems to have been reported as successful, and if not, retailers were optimistic of the coming weeks.

“It was a really good December,” Sargent said, adding that the two weeks leading up to Christmas was a “nightmare” getting in and out of the Crossings at Fox Run because of traffic. “I think of all the times when you could shop online, there are still certainly plenty of people that still need help with their electronics and come in to the store. I think definitely the traffic was up and certainly having a plethora of product in stock helped.”

Chuck Murphy, the leader on duty at Target in Somersworth on Wednesday morning, said the store was not as crazy as it used to be but, “What December lacks, January hopefully makes up for.”